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A Co Down man has been jailed for five years for his part in a multi-million pound cigarette smuggling scam.

Sean Dolan, 43, of Annaghmare Road, Newry, was part of a gang that smuggled 17million cigarettes and 1.4 tonnes of tobacco into the UK from South East Asia.

Almost one million American Legend cigarettes were found in Dolan's garage during a search of his home when customs officers moved in to bust the racket in late 2015.

Dolan admitted conspiracy to fraudulently evade excise duty, while the other three gang members Ian Pritchard, 51, Paul Smith, 47, and Ian Hindle, 39, all from Merseyside, were jailed for a total of more than 20 years today at Liverpool Court after being convicted of various offences related to the scam.

Millions of cigarettes were uncovered by HRMC officials

The court heard that the fraudsters tried to hide the "dirty cash" from illegal tobacco sales by buying high-value vehicles and selling them on.

They fronted a UK-based business, and hijacked the identity of a legitimate business, in order to launder the proceeds and avoid paying VAT.

The gang bought 102 vehicles for a total of £1,138,029 – more than £500,000 of which was paid in cash. The money was then deposited into the businesses.

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One in particular, headed up by Pritchard, received a further £308,000 in cash over a seven-month period in 2015.

The racket came to light when Border Force officials examined two shipping containers containing the cigarettes and tobacco at the Port of Felixstowe in September 2014. In a bid to avoid detection, the goods were described on paperwork as "furniture".

A carrier bag containing £41,000 in used notes was found under a mat in Hindle’s car on his arrest.

The court heard the four men had used a rented flat in Liverpool as their base to plan the 20-month smuggling scam and had evaded VAT of £4,308,832 before being busted by customs in late 2015.

Cash seized by customs

Pritchard was jailed for 10 years for conspiracy to fraudulently evade excise duty, concealing criminal property, cheating the public revenue and entering into an arrangement relating to the use or control of criminal property.

Hindle was sentenced to five and-a-half years in prison for conspiracy to fraudulently evade excise duty and entering into an arrangement relating to the use or control of criminal property and Smith was jailed for five years for conspiracy to fraudulently evade excise duty.

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Antony Capon, assistant director of HMRC's Fraud Investigation Service, said the gang was "foolish" to think they would get away with their attempt to "flood the UK streets with millions of smuggled cigarettes and launder the proceeds by buying and selling high-value cars".

He said: "They thought that by setting up a fake business and funneling cash through it they would somehow stay under HMRC’s radar.

"They were wrong and it was foolish of them to believe they could get away with such a large-scale fraud.

“Disrupting criminal trade is at the heart of our strategy to clampdown on the illicit tobacco market. This is theft from the taxpayer, denying public services much needed money.

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